Inferno (Dante)

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Canto I from the Inferno, the first part ofThe Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.

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Inferno (pronounced [infrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic
poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorioand Paradiso. The Inferno tells the journey of
Dante through Hell, guided by theancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine
concentric circles of suffering located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected
spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to
fraud or malice against their fellowmen." [1] As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey
of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.[2]

Contents
[hide]

1Introduction
o 1.1Cantos III

o 1.2Vestibule of Hell

2Nine circles of Hell

o 2.1Overview

o 2.2First Circle (Limbo)

o 2.3Second Circle (Lust)

o 2.4Third Circle (Gluttony)

o 2.5Fourth Circle (Greed)

o 2.6Fifth Circle (Wrath)

2.6.1Entrance to Dis

o 2.7Sixth Circle (Heresy)

o 2.8Seventh Circle (Violence)

o 2.9Eighth Circle (Fraud)

2.9.1Central Well of Malebolge

 o 2.10Ninth Circle (Treachery)

2.10.1Centre of Hell

3Illustrations

4See also

5Notes

6References

7External links

o 7.1Texts

o 7.2Secondary materials

Introduction
Cantos III

Gustave Dor's engravings illustrated the Divine Comedy (18611868). Here, Dante is lost in Canto I of
the Inferno

Canto I
The poem begins on the night of Maundy Thursday on March 24 (or April 7) 1300 A.D., shortly
before dawn of Good Friday.[3][4] The narrator, Dante himself, is thirty-five years old, and thus "midway
in the journey of our life" (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita[5]) half of the Biblical lifespan of
seventy (Psalm 89:10, Vulgate; Psalm 90:10, KJV). The poet finds himself lost in a dark wood (selva
oscura[6]), astray from the "straight way" (diritta via,[7] also translatable as "right way") of salvation. He
sets out to climb directly up a small mountain, but his way is blocked by three beasts he cannot
evade: a lonza[8] (usually rendered as "leopard" or "leopon"),[9] a leone[10](lion), and a lupa[11] (she-wolf).
The three beasts, taken from the Jeremiah 5:6, are thought to symbolize the three kinds of sin that
bring the unrepentant soul into one of the three major divisions of Hell. According to John Ciardi,
these are incontinence(the she-wolf); violence and bestiality (the lion); and fraud and malice (the
leopard);[12] Dorothy L. Sayers assigns the leopard to incontinence and the she-wolf to fraud/malice.
[13]
It is now dawn of Good Friday, April 8, with the sun rising in Aries. The beasts drive him back
despairing into the darkness of error, a "lower place" (basso loco[14]) where the sun is silent (l sol
tace[15]). However, Dante is rescued by a figure who announces that he was born sub Iulio[16] (i.e. in
the time of Julius Caesar) and lived under Augustus: it is the shade of the Roman poet Virgil, author
of the Aeneid, a Latin epic.
Canto II
On the evening of Good Friday, Dante is following Virgil but hesitates; Virgil explains how he has
been sent by Beatrice, the symbol of Divine Love. Beatrice has been sent with prayers from
the Virgin Mary (symbolic of compassion) and of Saint Lucia (symbolic of illuminating
Grace). Rachel, symbolic of the contemplative life, also appears in the heavenly scene recounted by
Virgil. The two of them then begin their journey to the underworld.
Vestibule of Hell
Canto III
Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which bears an inscription ending with the famous phrase
"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate",[17] most frequently translated as "Abandon all hope, ye who
enter here."[nb 1] Dante and his guide hear the anguished screams of the Uncommitted. These are the
souls of people who in life took no sides; the opportunists who were for neither good nor evil, but
merely concerned with themselves. Among these Dante recognizes a figure implied to be Pope
Celestine V, whose "cowardice (in selfish terror for his own welfare) served as the door through
which so much evil entered the Church."[18] Mixed with them are outcasts who took no side in
the Rebellion of Angels. These souls are forever unclassified; they are neither in Hell nor out of it, but
reside on the shores of the Acheron. Naked and futile, they race around through the mist in eternal
pursuit of an elusive, wavering banner (symbolic of their pursuit of ever-shifting self-interest) while
relentlessly chased by swarms of wasps and hornets, who continually sting them.
[19]
Loathsome maggots and worms at the sinners' feet drink the putrid mixture of blood, pus, and
tears that flows down their bodies. This symbolizes the sting of their guilty conscience and the
repugnance of sin. This may also be seen as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in.

Gustave Dor's illustration of Canto III: Arrival of Charon.

After passing through the vestibule, Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across the
river Acheron and to Hell proper. The ferry is piloted by Charon, who does not want to let Dante
enter, for he is a living being. Virgil forces Charon to take him by means of another famous
line: Vuolsi cos col dove si puote / ci che si vuole ("It is so willed there where is power to do / That
which is willed"),[20] referring to the fact that Dante is on his journey on divine grounds. The wailing
and blasphemy of the damned souls entering Charon's boat contrast with the joyful singing of the
blessed souls arriving by ferry in the Purgatorio. The passage across the Acheron, however, is
undescribed, since Dante faints and does not awaken until he is on the other side.

Nine circles of Hell

Overview
Canto IV
Virgil proceeds to guide Dante through the nine circles of Hell. The circles areconcentric,
representing a gradual increase in wickedness, and culminating at the centre of the earth,
where Satan is held in bondage. The sinners of each circle are punished for eternity in a fashion
fitting their crimes: each punishment is a contrapasso, a symbolic instance of poetic justice. For
example, later in the poem, Dante and Virgil encounter fortune-tellers who must walk forward with
their heads on backward, unable to see what is ahead, because they tried to see the future through
forbidden means. Such a contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine revenge, but rather
as the fulfilment of a destiny freely chosen by each soul during his or her life."[21] People who sinned,
but prayed for forgiveness before their deaths are found not in Hell but in Purgatory, where they
labour to be free of their sins. Those in Hell are people who tried to justify their sins and are
unrepentant. Allegorically, the Inferno represents the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is.
Dante's Hell is structurally based on the ideas of Aristotle, but with "certain Christian symbolisms,
exceptions, and misconstructions of Aristotle's text." [22] Dante's three major categories of sin, as
symbolized by the three beasts that Dante encounters in Canto I, are Incontinence, Violence and
Bestiality, and Fraud and Malice.[22][23] Sinners punished for incontinence the lustful, the gluttonous,
the hoarders and wasters, and the wrathful and sullen all demonstrated weakness in controlling
their appetites, desires, and natural urges; according to Aristotle's Ethics, incontinence is less
condemnable than malice or bestiality, and therefore these sinners are located in four circles of
Upper Hell (Circles 2-5). These sinners endure lesser torments than do those consigned to Lower
Hell, located within the walls of the City of Dis, for committing acts of violence and fraud the latter
of which involves, as Dorothy L. Sayers writes, "abuse of the specifically human faculty of reason".
[23]
The deeper levels are organized into one circle for violence (Circle 7) and two circles for fraud
(Circles 8 and 9). As a Christian, Dante adds Circle 1 (Limbo) to Upper Hell and Circle 6 (Heresy) to
Lower Hell, making 9 Circles in total; incorporating the Vestibule of the Futile, this leads to Hell
containing 10 main divisions.[23] This "9+1=10" structure is also found within
the Purgatorio and Paradiso. Lower Hell is further subdivided: Circle 7 (Violence) is divided into three
rings, Circle 8 (Simple Fraud) is divided into ten bolge, and Circle 9 (Complex Fraud) is divided into
four regions. Thus, Hell contains, in total, 24 divisions.
First Circle (Limbo)
The Harrowing of Hell, in a 14th-century illuminated manuscript, the Petites Heures de Jean de Berry

Dante wakes up to find that he has crossed the Acheron, and Virgil leads him to the first circle of the
abyss: Limbo, where Virgil himself resides. The first circle contains theunbaptized and the virtuous
pagans, who, although not sinful, did not accept Christ. Dorothy L. Sayers writes, "After those who
refused choice come those without opportunity of choice. They could not, that is, choose Christ; they
could, and did, choose human virtue, and for that they have their reward." [24] Limbo shares many
characteristics with the Asphodel Meadows; thus, the guiltless damned are punished by living in a
deficient form of Heaven. Without baptism ("the portal of the faith that you embrace") [25] they lacked
the hope for something greater than rational minds can conceive. When Dante asked if anyone has
ever left Limbo, Virgil states that he saw Jesus ("a Mighty One") descend into Limbo and
takeNoah, Moses, Abraham, David, and Rachel (see Limbo of the Patriarchs) into his all-forgiving
arms and transport them to Heaven as the first human souls to be saved. The event, known as
the Harrowing of Hell, would have occurred in A.D. 33 or 34.
Dante encounters the poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, who include him in their number and
make him "sixth in that high company". [26] They reach the base of a great Castle the dwelling place
of the wisest men of antiquity surrounded by seven gates, and a flowing brook. After passing
through the seven gates, the group comes to an exquisite green meadow and Dante encounters the
inhabitants of the Citadel. These include figures associated with the Trojans and their descendants
(the Romans): Electra (mother of Troy's founder Dardanus), Hector, Aeneas, Julius Caesar in his
role as Roman general ("in his armor, falcon-eyed"), [27] Camilla, Penthesilea (Queen of
the Amazons), KingLatinus and his daughter, Lavinia, Lucius Junius Brutus (who
overthrew Tarquin to found the Roman Republic), Lucretia,Julia, Marcia, and Cornelia Africana.
Dante also views Saladin, a Muslim military leader known for his struggle against theCrusaders as
well as his generous, chivalrous, and merciful conduct.
Dante next encounters a group of philosophers, including Aristotle with Socrates and Plato at his
side, as well asDemocritus, "Diogenes" (either Diogenes the Cynic or Diogenes of
Apollonia), Anaxagoras, Thales, Empedocles, Heraclitus, and "Zeno" (either Zeno of Elea or Zeno of
Citium). He sees the scientist Dioscorides; the mythical Greek poets Orpheusand Linus; and Roman
statesmen Marcus Tullius Cicero and Seneca. Dante sees the Alexandrian
geometer Euclid andPtolemy, the Alexandrian astronomer and geographer, as well as the
physicians Hippocrates and Galen. He also encountersAvicenna, a Persian polymath, and Averroes,
a medieval Andalusian polymath known for his commentaries on Aristotle's works. Dante and Virgil
depart from the four other poets and continue their journey.
Although Dante implies that all virtuous non-Christians find themselves here, he later encounters two
(Cato of Utica andStatius) in Purgatory and two (Trajan and Ripheus) in Heaven. In Purg. XXII, Virgil
names several additional inhabitants of Limbo who were not mentioned in the Inferno.[28]
Second Circle (Lust)
Gustave Dor's depiction of Minosjudging sinners at the start of Canto V.

Canto V
Dante and Virgil leave Limbo and enter the Second Circle the first of the circles of Incontinence
where the punishments of Hell proper begin. It is described as "a part where no thing
gleams."[29] They find their way hindered by the serpentine Minos, who judges all of those
condemned for active, deliberately willed sin to one of the lower circles. Minos sentences each soul
to its torment by wrapping his tail around himself a corresponding number of times. Virgil rebukes
Minos, and he and Dante continue on.
In the second circle of Hell are those overcome by lust. These "carnal malefactors"[30]are condemned
for letting their appetites sway their reason. These souls are buffeted back and forth by the terrible
winds of a violent storm, without rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly
and aimlessly: "as the lovers drifted into self-indulgence and were carried sway by their passions, so
now they drift for ever. The bright, voluptuous sin is now seen as it is a howling darkness of
helpless discomfort."[31] Since lust involves mutual indulgence and is not, therefore, completely self-
centered, Dante deems it the least heinous of the sins and its punishment is the most benign within
Hell proper.[31][32] The "ruined slope"[33] in this circle is thought to be a reference to the earthquake that
occurred after the death of Christ.

Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

In this circle, Dante sees Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Paris, Achilles, Tristan, and
many others who were overcome by sexual love during their life. Dante comes acrossFrancesca da
Rimini, who married the deformed Giovanni Malatesta (also known as "Gianciotto") for political
purposes but fell in love with his younger brother Paolo Malatesta; the two began to carry on
an adulterous affair. Sometime between 1283 and 1286, Giovanni surprised them together in
Francesca's bedroom and violently stabbed them both to death. Francesca explains:
Love, which in gentlest hearts will soonest bloom
seized my lover with passion for that sweet body
from which I was torn unshriven to my doom.
Love, which permits no loved one not to love,
took me so strongly with delight in him
that we are one in Hell, as we were above.
Love led us to one death. In the depths of Hell
Cana waits for him who took our lives."
This was the piteous tale they stopped to tell.[34]

Francesca further reports that she and Paolo yielded to their love when reading the story of the
adultery between Lancelotand Guinevere in the Old French romance Lancelot du Lac. Francesca
says, "Galeotto fu 'l libro e chi lo scrisse."[35] The word "Galeotto" means "pander" but is also the
Italian term for Gallehaut, who acted as an intermediary between Lancelot and Guinevere,
encouraging them on to love. John Ciardi renders line 137 as "That book, and he who wrote it, was a
pander."[36] Inspired by Dante, author Giovanni Boccaccio invoked the name Prencipe Galeotto in the
alternative title to The Decameron, a 14th-century collection of novellas. The English poet John
Keats, in his sonnet "On a Dream," imagines what Dante does not give us, the point of view of
Paolo:
... But to that second circle of sad hell,
Where 'mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw
Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell
Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw,
Pale were the lips I kiss'd, and fair the form
I floated with, about that melancholy storm.[37]

As he did at the end of Canto III, Dante overcome by pity and anguish describes his swoon: "I
fainted, as if I had met my death. / And then I fell as a dead body falls" [38]
Third Circle (Gluttony)

The third circle, illustrated by Stradanus

Cerberus as illustrated by Gustave Dor

Canto VI
In the third circle, the gluttonous wallow in a vile, putrid slush produced by a ceaseless, foul, icy rain
"a great storm of putrefaction" [39] as punishment for subjecting their reason to a voracious
appetite.Cerberus (described as "il gran vermo", literally "the great worm", line 22), the monstrous
three-headed beast of Hell, ravenously guards the gluttons lying in the freezing mire, mauling and
flaying them with his claws as they howl like dogs. Virgil obtains safe passage past the monster by
filling its three mouths with mud.
Dorothy L. Sayers writes that "the surrender to sin which began with mutual indulgence leads by an
imperceptible degradation to solitary self-indulgence." [40] The gluttons grovel in the mud by
themselves, sightless and heedless of their neighbors, symbolizing the cold, selfish, and empty
sensuality of their lives.[40] Just as lust has revealed its true nature in the winds of the previous circle,
here the slush reveals the true nature of sensuality which includes not only overindulgence in food
and drink, but also other kinds of addiction. [41]
In this circle, Dante converses with a Florentine contemporary identified as Ciacco, which means
"hog."[42] A character with the same nickname later appears in The Decameron of Giovanni
Boccaccio.[43] Ciacco speaks to Dante regarding strife in Florence between the "White" and
"Black" Guelphs, which developed after the Guelph/Ghibelline strife ended with the complete defeat
of the Ghibellines. In the first of several political prophecies in the Inferno, Ciacco "predicts" the
expulsion of the White Guelphs (Dante's party) from Florence by the Black Guelphs, aided by Pope
Boniface VIII, which marked the start of Dante's long exile from the city. These events occurred in
1302, prior to when the poem was written but in the future at Easter time of 1300, the time in which
the poem is set.[42]
Fourth Circle (Greed)
In Gustave Dor's illustrations for the fourth circle, the weights are huge money bags

Canto VII
The Fourth Circle is guarded by a figure Dante names as Pluto: this is Plutus, the deity of wealth in
classical mythology. Although the two are often conflated, he is a distinct figure from Pluto (Dis), the
classical ruler of the underworld.[nb 2] At the start of Canto VII, he menaces Virgil and Dante with the
cryptic phrase Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe, but Virgil protects Dante from him.
Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from the appropriate meanare punished in the
fourth circle. They include the avaricious or miserly (including many "clergymen, and popes and
cardinals"),[44] who hoarded possessions, and theprodigal, who squandered them. The hoarders and
spendthrifts joust, using as weapons great weights that they push with their chests:
Here, too, I saw a nation of lost souls,
far more than were above: they strained their chests
against enormous weights, and with mad howls
rolled them at one another. Then in haste
 they rolled them back, one party shouting out:
"Why do you hoard?" and the other: "Why do you waste?" [45]

Relating this sin of incontinence to the two that preceded it (lust and gluttony), Dorothy L. Sayers
writes, "Mutual indulgence has already declined into selfish appetite; now, that appetite becomes
aware of the incompatible and equally selfish appetites of other people. Indifference becomes
mutual antagonism, imaged here by the antagonism between hoarding and squandering." [46] The
contrast between these two groups leads Virgil to discourse on the nature of Fortune, who raises
nations to greatness and later plunges them into poverty, as she shifts "those empty goods from
nation unto nation, clan to clan."[47] This speech fills what would otherwise be a gap in the poem,
since both groups are so absorbed in their activity that Virgil tells Dante that it would be pointless to
try to speak to them indeed, they have lost their individuality and been rendered
"unrecognizable"[48]
Fifth Circle (Wrath)

The fifth circle, illustrated by Stradanus

The Barque of Dante by Eugne Delacroix

In the swampy, stinking waters of the river Styx the Fifth Circle the actively wrathful fight each
other viciously on the surface of the slime, while the sullen (the passively wrathful) lie beneath the
water, withdrawn "into a black sulkiness which can find no joy in God or man or the universe." [46] At
the surface of the foul Stygian marsh, Dorothy L. Sayers writes, "the active hatreds rend and snarl at
one another; at the bottom, the sullen hatreds lie gurgling, unable even to express themselves for
the rage that chokes them."[46] As the last circle of Incontinence, the "savage self-frustration" of the
Fifth Circle marks the end of "that which had its tender and romantic beginnings in the dalliance of
indulged passion."[46]
Canto VIII
Phlegyas reluctantly transports Dante and Virgil across the Styx in his skiff. On the way they are
accosted by Filippo Argenti, a Black Guelph from the prominent Adimari family. Little is known about
Argenti, although Giovanni Boccaccio describes an incident in which he lost his temper; early
commentators state that Argenti's brother seized some of Dante's property after his exile from
Florence.[49] Just as Argenti enabled the seizing of Dante's property, he himself is "seized" by all the
other wrathful souls.
When Dante responds "In weeping and in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain," [50] Virgil
blesses him with words used to describe Christ himself (Luke 11:27). Literally, this reflects the fact
that souls in Hell are eternally fixed in the state they have chosen, but allegorically, it reflects Dante's
beginning awareness of his own sin.[51]
Entrance to Dis

Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus. There is a drop from the sixth circle to the
three rings of the seventh circle, then again to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy
ninth circle.

In the distance, Dante perceives high towers that resemble fiery red mosques. Virgil informs him that
they are approaching the City of Dis. Dis, itself surrounded by the Stygian marsh, contains Lower
Hell within its walls.[52] Dis is one of the names of Pluto, the classical king of the underworld, in
addition to being the name of the realm. The walls of Dis are guarded byfallen angels. Virgil is
unable to convince them to let Dante and him enter, and Dante is threatened by
the Furies (consisting of Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone) and Medusa.
Canto IX
An angel sent from Heaven secures entry for the poets, opening the gate by touching it with a wand,
and rebukes those who opposed Dante. Allegorically, this reveals the fact that the poem is beginning
to deal with sins that philosophy and humanism cannot fully understand. Virgil also mentions to
Dante how Erichtho sent him down to the lowest circle of Hell to bring back a spirit from there. [51]
Sixth Circle (Heresy)
Canto X
In the sixth circle, heretics, such as Epicurus and his followers (who say "the soul dies with the
body")[53] are trapped in flaming tombs. Dante holds discourse with a pair of Epicurian Florentines in
one of the tombs: Farinata degli Uberti, a famous Ghibelline leader (following the Battle of
Montaperti in September 1260, Farinata strongly protested the proposed destruction of Florence at
the meeting of the victorious Ghibellines; he died in 1264 and was posthumously condemned for
heresy in 1283); and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, a Guelph who was the father of Dante's friend and
fellow poet, Guido Cavalcanti. The political affiliation of these two men allows for a further discussion
of Florentine politics. In response to a question from Dante about the "prophecy" he has received,
Farinata explains that what the souls in Hell know of life on earth comes from seeing the future, not
from any observation of the present. Consequently, when "the portal of the future has been shut", [54] it
will no longer be possible for them to know anything. Farinata explains that also crammed within the
tomb are Emperor Frederick II, commonly reputed to be an Epicurean, and Ottaviano degli Ubaldini,
to whom Dante refers to as il Cardinale.
Canto XI
Dante reads an inscription on one of the tombs indicating it belongs to Pope Anastasius II although
some modern scholars hold that Dante erred in the verse mentioning Anastasius ("Anastasio papa
guardo, / lo qual trasse Fotin de la via dritta", lines 8-9), confusing the pope with the Byzantine
emperor of the time, Anastasius I.[55][56][57][58] Pausing for a moment before the steep descent to the foul-
smelling seventh circle, Virgil explains the geography and rationale of Lower Hell, in which the sins
of violence (or bestiality) and fraud (or malice) are punished. In his explanation, Virgil refers to
the Nicomachean Ethicsand the Physics of Aristotle, with medieval interpretations. Virgil asserts that
there are only two legitimate sources of wealth: natural resources ("Nature") and human labor and
activity ("Art"). Usury, to be punished in the next circle, is therefore an offence against both; it is a
kind of blasphemy, since it is an act of violence against Art, which is the child of Nature, and Nature
derives from God.[59]
Virgil then indicates the time through his unexplained awareness of the stars' positions. The "Wain",
the Great Bear, now lies in the northwest over Caurus (the northwest wind). The
constellation Pisces (the Fish) is just appearing over the horizon: it is the zodiacal sign
preceding Aries (the Ram). Canto I notes that the sun is in Aries, and since the twelve zodiac signs
rise at two-hour intervals, it must now be about two hours prior to sunrise: 4:00 A.M. of Holy
Saturday, April 9.[59][60]
Seventh Circle (Violence)
Canto XII
The Seventh Circle, divided into three rings, houses the Violent. Dante and Virgil descend a jumble
of rocks that had once formed a cliff to reach the Seventh Circle from the Sixth Circle, having first to
evade the Minotaur (L'infamia di Creti, "the Infamy of Crete", line 12); at the sight of them, the
Minotaur gnaws his flesh. Virgil assures the monster that Dante is not its hated enemy, Theseus.
This causes the Minotaur to charge them as Dante and Virgil swiftly enter the seventh circle. Virgil
explains the presence of shattered stones around them: they resulted from the great earthquake that
shook the earth at the moment of Christ's death (Matt. 27:51), at the time of the Harrowing of Hell.
Ruins resulting from the same shock were previously seen at the beginning of Upper Hell (the
entrance of the Second Circle, Canto V).

"Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, / Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. / People I saw within
up to the eyebrows ..."[61]

Ring 1: Against Neighbors: In the first round of the seventh circle,
the murderers, war-makers, plunderers and tyrants are immersed
 in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood and fire. Ciardi writes, "as
they wallowed in blood during their lives, so they are immersed in
the boiling blood forever, each according to the degree of his guilt".
[62]
The Centaurs, commanded by Chiron and Pholus, patrol the ring,
shooting arrows into any sinners who emerge higher out of the
boiling blood than each is allowed. The centaur Nessus guides the
poets along Phlegethon and points out Alexander the Great,
"Dionysius" (either Dionysius I or Dionysius II, or both; they were
bloodthirsty, unpopular tyrants of Sicily), Ezzelino III da
Romano (the cruelest of the Ghibelline tyrants), Obizzo d'Este,
andGuy de Montfort. The river grows shallower until it reaches a
ford, after which it comes full circle back to the deeper part where
Dante and Virgil first approached it; immersed here are tyrants
including Attila, King of the Huns (flagello in terra, "scourge on
earth", line 134), "Pyrrhus" (either the bloodthirsty son of Achilles or
King Pyrrhus of Epirus), Sextus, Rinier da Corneto, and Rinier
Pazzo. After bringing Dante and Virgil to the shallow ford, Nessus
leaves them to return to his post. This passage may have been
influenced by the early medieval Visio Karoli Grossi.[nb 3]

Harpies in the wood of the suicides, from Inferno Canto XIII, by Gustave Dor, 1861

Canto XIII

Ring 2: Against Self: The second round of the seventh circle is the
Wood of the Suicides, in which the souls of the Suicides are
transformed into gnarled, thorny trees and then fed upon
by Harpies, hideous clawed birds with the faces of women; the trees
are only permitted to speak when broken and bleeding. Dante
breaks a twig off one of the trees and from the bleeding trunk hears
the tale of Pietro della Vigna, a powerful minister of Emperor
Frederick II until he fell out of favor and was imprisoned and
blinded. He subsequently committed suicide; his presence here,
rather than in the Ninth Circle, indicates that Dante believes that the
accusations made against him were false.[63] The Harpies and the
characteristics of the bleeding bushes are based on Book 3 of
 the Aeneid. According to Dorothy L. Sayers, the sin of suicide is an
"insult to the body; so, here, the shades are deprived of even the
semblance of the human form. As they refused life, they remain
fixed in a dead and withered sterility. They are the image of the self-
hatred which dries up the very sap of energy and makes all life
infertile."[63] The trees can also be interpreted as a metaphor for the
state of mind in which suicide is committed.[64]

Dante learns that these suicides, unique among the dead, will not
be corporally resurrected after the Final Judgement since they
threw their bodies away; instead, they will maintain their bushy
form, with their own corpses hanging from the thorny limbs. After
Pietro della Vigna finishes his story, Dante notices two shades
(Lano da Siena and Jacopo Sant' Andrea) race through the wood,
chased and savagely mauled by ferocious bitches this is the
punishment of the violently profligate who, "possessed by a
depraved passion ... dissipated their goods for the sheer wanton
lust of wreckage and disorder."[63] The destruction wrought upon the
wood by the profligates' flight and punishment as they crash through
the undergrowth causes further suffering to the suicides, who
cannot move out of the way.g

Brunetto Latini speaks with Dante in Canto XV, an engraving by Gustave Dor.

Canto XIV

Ring 3: Against God, Art, and Nature: The third round of the
seventh circle is a great Plain of Burning Sand scorched by great
flakes of flame falling slowly down from the sky, an image derived
from the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24.)
The Blasphemers (the Violent against God) are stretched supine
upon the burning sand, the Sodomites (the Violent against Nature)
run in circles, while the Usurers(the Violent against Art, which is the
Grandchild of God, as explained in Canto XI) crouch huddled and
weeping. Ciardi writes, "Blasphemy, sodomy, and usury are all
unnatural and sterile actions: thus the unbearing desert is the
eternity of these sinners; and thus the rain, which in nature should
be fertile and cool, descends as fire".[65] Dante
finds Capaneus stretched out on the sands; for blasphemy
againstJove, he was struck down with a thunderbolt during
the Siege of Thebes; he is still scorning Jove in the afterlife. The
overflow of Phlegethon, the river of blood from the First Round,
flows boiling through the Wood of the Suicides (the second round)
 and crosses the Burning Plain. Virgil explains the origin of the rivers
of Hell, which includes references to the Old Man of Crete.

Canto XV
Protected by the powers of the boiling rivulet, Dante and Virgil progress across the burning plain.
They pass a roving group of Sodomites, and Dante, to his surprise, recognizes Brunetto Latini.
Dante addresses Brunetto with deep and sorrowful affection, "paying him the highest tribute offered
to any sinner in the Inferno",[66] thus refuting suggestions that Dante only placed his enemies in Hell.
[67]
Dante has great respect for Brunetto and feels spiritual indebtedness to him and his works ("you
taught me how man makes himself eternal; / and while I live, my gratitude for that / must always be
apparent in my words"),[68] Brunetto prophesies Dante's bad treatment by the Florentines. He also
identifies other sodomites, includingPriscian, Francesco d'Accorso, and Bishop Andrea de' Mozzi.
Canto XVI
The Poets begin to hear the waterfall that plunges over the Great Cliff into the Eighth Circle when
three shades break from their company and greet them. They are Iacopo Rusticucci, Guido Guerra,
and Tegghiaio Aldobrandi all Florentines much admired by Dante. Rusticucci blames his "savage
wife" for his torments. The sinners ask for news of Florence, and Dante laments the current state of
the city. At the top of the falls, at Virgil's order, Dante removes a cord from about his waist and Virgil
drops it over the edge; as if in answer, a large, distorted shape swims up through the filthy air of the
abyss.
Canto XVII
The creature is Geryon, the Monster of Fraud; Virgil announces that they must fly down from the cliff
on the monster's back. Dante goes alone to examine the Usurers: he does not recognize them, but
each has a heraldic device emblazoned on a leather purse around his neck ("On these their
streaming eyes appeared to feast.".[69] The coats of arms indicate that they came from prominent
Florentine families; they indicate the presence of Catello di Rosso Gianfigliazzi, Ciappo Ubriachi, the
Paduan Reginaldo degli Scrovegni (who predicts that his fellow Paduan Vitaliano di Iacopo
Vitaliani will join him here), andGiovanni di Buiamonte. Dante then rejoins Virgil and, both mounted
atop Geryon's back, the two begin their descent from the great cliff in the Eighth Circle: the Hell of
the Fraudulent and Malicious.

A Gustave Dor wood engraving of Geryon, Canto XVII.

Geryon, the winged monster who allows Dante and Virgil to descend a vast cliff to reach the Eighth
Circle, was traditionally represented as a giant with three heads and three conjoined bodies.
[70]
Dante's Geryon, meanwhile, is an image of fraud, [71] combining human, bestial, and reptilian
elements: Geryon is a "monster with the general shape of a wyvern but with the tail of a scorpion,
hairy arms, a gaudily-marked reptilian body, and the face of a just and honest man". [72] The pleasant
human face on this grotesque body evokes the insincere fraudster whose intentions "behind the
face" are all monstrous, cold-blooded, and stinging with poison.
Eighth Circle (Fraud)
See also: Malebolge
Canto XVIII
Dante now finds himself in the Eighth Circle, called Malebolge ("Evil Ditches"): the upper half of the
Hell of the Fraudulent and Malicious. The Eighth Circle is a large funnel of stone shaped like
an amphitheatre around which run a series of ten deep, narrow, concentric ditches or trenches
called bolge (singular: bolgia). Within these ditches are punished those guilty of Simple Fraud. From
the foot of the Great Cliff to the Well (which forms the neck of the funnel) are large spurs of rock, like
umbrella ribs or spokes, which serve as bridges over the ten ditches. Dorothy L. Sayers writes that
the Malebolge is "the image of the City in corruption: the progressive disintegration of every social
relationship, personal and public. Sexuality, ecclesiastical and civil office, language, ownership,
counsel, authority, psychic influence, and material interdependence all the media of the
community's interchange are perverted and falsified."[73]

Illustration by Sandro Botticelli: Dante and Virgil visit the first two bolgeof the eighth circle

Bolgia 1 Panderers and seducers: These sinners make two
files, one along either bank of the ditch, and march quickly in
opposite directions while being whipped by horned demons for
eternity. They "deliberately exploited the passions of others and so
drove them to serve their own interests, are themselves driven and
scourged".[73] Dante makes reference to a recent traffic rule
developed for the Jubilee year of 1300 in Rome.[73] In the group of
panderers, the poets notice Venedico Caccianemico, a Bolognese
Guelph who sold his own sister Ghisola to the Marchese d'Este. In
the group of seducers, Virgil points out Jason, the Greek hero who
led the Argonauts to fetch theGolden Fleece from Aetes, King
of Colchis. He gained the help of the king's daughter, Medea, by
seducing and marrying her only to later desert her forCreusa.
[73]
Jason had previously seduced Hypsipyle when the Argonauts
landed at Lemnos on their way to Colchis, but "abandoned her,
alone and pregnant[74]

Bolgia 2 Flatterers: These also exploited other people, this time
abusing and corrupting language to play upon others' desires and
fears. They are steeped in excrement (representative of the false
flatteries they told on earth) as they howl and fight amongst
themselves. Alessio Interminei of Lucca and Thas are seen here.[73]

Canto XIX

Bolgia 3 Simoniacs: Dante now forcefully expresses his

condemnation of those who committed simony, or the sale of
ecclesiastic favors and offices, and therefore made money for
 themselves out of what belongs to God: "Rapacious ones, who take
the things of God, / that ought to be the brides of Righteousness, /
and make them fornicate for gold and silver! / The time has come to
let the trumpet sound / for you; ...".[75] The sinners are placed head-
downwards in round, tube-like holes within the rock (debased
mockeries of baptismal fonts), with flames burning the soles of their
feet. The heat of the fire is proportioned to their guilt. The simile of
baptismal fonts gives Dante an incidental opportunity to clear his
name of an accusation of malicious damage to the font at
the Baptistery of San Giovanni.[76] Simon Magus, who offered gold in
exchange for holy power to Saint Peter and after whom the sin is
named, is mentioned here (although Dante does not encounter
him). One of the sinners, Pope Nicholas III, must serve in the hellish
baptism by fire from his death in 1280 until 1303 the arrival in Hell
of Pope Boniface VIII who will take his predecessor's place in the
stone tube until 1314, when he will in turn be replaced by Pope
Clement V, a puppet of King Philip IV of France who moved
thePapal See to Avignon, ushering in the Avignon Papacy (1309
77). Dante delivers a denunciation of simoniacal corruption of the
Church.

Punishment of sorcerers and diviners in the Fourth Bolgia, Canto XX, illustrated by Stradanus.

Canto XX

Bolgia 4 Sorcerers: In the middle of the bridge of the Fourth

Bolgia, Dante looks down at the souls of fortune
tellers, diviners, astrologers, and other false prophets. The
punishment of those who attempted to "usurp God's prerogative by
prying into the future",[77] is to have their heads twisted around on
their bodies; in this horrible contortion of the human form, these
sinners are compelled to walk backwards for eternity, blinded by
their own tears. John Ciardi writes, "Thus, those who sought to
penetrate the future cannot even see in front of themselves; they
attempted to move themselves forward in time, so must they go
 backwards through all eternity; and as the arts of sorcery are a
distortion of God's law, so are their bodies distorted in Hell." [78] While
referring primarily to attempts to see into the future by forbidden
means, this also symbolises the twisted nature of magic in general.
[77]
Dante weeps in pity, and Virgil rebukes him, saying, "Here pity
only lives when it is dead; / for who can be more impious than he /
who links Gods judgment to passivity?"[79] Virgil gives a lengthy
explanation of the founding of his native city of Mantua. Among the
sinners in this circle are King Amphiaraus (one of the Seven Against
Thebes; foreseeing his death in the war, he sought to avert it by
hiding from battle but died in an earthquake trying to flee) and two
Theban soothsayers: Tiresias (in Ovid's Metamorphoses III, 324-
331, Tiresias was transformed into a woman upon striking two
coupling serpents with his rod; seven years later, he was changed
back to a man in an identical encounter) and his daughter Manto.
Also in this bolgia are Aruns (an Etruscan soothsayer who predicted
the Caesar's victory in the Roman civil war in Lucan's Pharsalia I,
585-638), the Greek augur Eurypylus, astrologers Michael
Scot (served at Frederick II's court at Palermo) and Guido
Bonatti (served the court of Guido da Montefeltro), and Asdente (a
shoemaker and soothsayer from Parma). Virgil implies that the
moon is now setting over the Pillars of Hercules in the West: the
time is just after 6:00 A.M., the dawn of Holy Saturday.

Dante's guide rebuffs Malacoda and his fiends between Bolge V and VI, Canto XXI

Canto XXI

Bolgia 5 Barrators: Corrupt politicians, who made money by
trafficking in public offices (the political analogue of the simoniacs),
are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky
fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals.[80] They are guarded
by demons called the Malebranche ("Evil Claws"), who tear them to
pieces with claws and grappling hooks if they catch them above the
surface of the pitch. The Poets observe a demon arrive with a
grafting Senator of Lucca and throw him into the pitch where the
demons set upon him. Virgil secures safe-conduct from the leader
of the Malebranche, namedMalacoda ("Evil Tail"). He informs them
that the bridge across the Sixth Bolgia is shattered (as a result of
the earthquake that shook Hell at the death of Christ in 34 AD) but
that there is another bridge further on. He sends a squad of demons
 led by Barbariccia to escort them safely. Based on details in this
Canto (and if Christ's death is taken to have occurred at exactly
noon), the time is now 7:00 A.M. of Holy Saturday.[81][nb 4] The demons
provide some savage and satirical black comedy in the last line of
Canto XXI, the sign for their march is provided by a fart: "and he
had made a trumpet of his ass."[83]

Canto XXII
One of the grafters, an unidentified Navarrese (identified by early commentators as Ciampolo) is
seized by the demons, and Virgil questions him. The sinner speaks of his fellow grafters, Friar
Gomita (a corrupt friar in Gallura eventually hanged byNino Visconti (see Purg. VIII) for accepting
bribes to let prisoners escape) and Michel Zanche (a corrupt Vicar of Logodoro under King Enzo of
Sardinia). He offers to lure some of his fellow sufferers into the hands of the demons, and when his
plan is accepted he escapes back into the pitch. Alichino and Calcabrina start a brawl in mid-air and
fall into the pitch themselves, and Barbariccia organizes a rescue party. Dante and Virgil take
advantage of the confusion to slip away.
Canto XXIII

Bolgia 6 Hypocrites: The Poets escape the pursuing

Malebranche by sliding down the sloping bank of the next pit. Here
they find the hypocrites listlessly walking around a narrow track for
eternity, weighted down by leaden robes. The robes are brilliantly
gilded on the outside and are shaped like a monk's habit the
hypocrite's "outward appearance shines brightly and passes for
holiness, but under that show lies the terrible weight of his deceit",
[84]
a falsity that weighs them down and makes spiritual progress
impossible for them.[85] Dante speaks with Catalano dei Malavolti
andLoderingo degli Andal, two Bolognese brothers of the Jovial
Friars, an order that had acquired a reputation for not living up to its
vows and was eventually disbanded by Papal decree. [85] Friar
Catalano points out Caiaphas, the High Priest under Pontius
Pilate who counseled the Pharisees to crucify Jesus for the public
good (John 11:49-50). He himself is crucified to the floor of Hell by
three large stakes, and in such a position that every passing sinner
must walk upon him: he "must suffer upon his body the weight of all
the world's hypocrisy".[84] The Jovial Friars explain to Virgil how he
may climb from the pit; Virgil discovers that Malacoda lied to him
about the bridges over the Sixth Bolgia.
The Thieves tortured by Serpents: engraving by Gustave Dor illustrating Canto XXIV of the Inferno.

Canto XXIV

Bolgia 7 Thieves: Dante and Virgil leave the bolgia of the

Hypocrites by climbing the ruined rocks of a bridge destroyed by the
great earthquake, after which they cross the bridge of the Seventh
Bolgia to the far side to observe the next chasm. The pit is filled with
monstrous reptiles: the shades of thieves are pursued and bitten
by snakes and lizards, who curl themselves about the sinners and
bind their hands behind their backs. The full horror of the thieves'
punishment is revealed gradually: just as they stole other people's
substance in life, their very identity becomes subject to theft here.
[86]
One sinner, who reluctantly identifies himself as Vanni Fucci, is
bitten by a serpent at the jugular vein, bursts into flames, and is re-
formed from the ashes like a phoenix. Vanni tells a dark prophecy
against Dante.

Canto XXV
Vanni hurls an obscenity at God and the serpents swarm over him. The centaur Cacus arrives to
punish the wretch; he has a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders and snakes covering his equine
back. (In Roman mythology, Cacus, the monstrous, fire-breathing son of Vulcan, was killed
by Hercules for raiding the hero's cattle; in Aeneid VIII, 193-267, Virgil did not describe him as a
centaur). Dante then meets five noble thieves of Florence and observes their various
transformations. Agnello Brunelleschi, in human form, is merged with the six-legged serpent that is
Cianfa Donati. A figure named Buoso (perhaps either Buoso degli Abati or Buoso Donati, the latter of
whom is mentioned in Inf. XXX.44) first appears as a man, but exchanges forms with Francesco de'
Cavalcanti, who bites Buoso in the form of a four-footed serpent. Puccio Sciancato remains
unchanged for the time being.

Dante and Virgil observe the false counsellors, Canto XXVI

Canto XXVI

Bolgia 8 Counsellors of Fraud: Dante addresses a passionate

lament to Florence before turning to the next bolgia. Here, the
fraudulent advisers or evil counsellors move about, hidden from
view inside individual flames. These are not people who gave false
advice, but people who used their position to advise others to
 engage in fraud.[87]Ulysses and Diomedes are punished together
within a great double-headed flame; they are condemned for the
stratagem of the Trojan Horse (resulting in the Fall of Troy),
persuading Achilles to sail for Troy (causing Deidamia to die of
grief), and for the theft of the sacred statue of Pallas,
the Palladium (upon which, it was believed, the fate of Troy
depended). Ulysses, the figure in the larger horn of the flame,
narrates the tale of his last voyage and death (Dante's invention).
He tells how, after his detainment by Circe, his love for neither his
son, his father, nor his wife could overpower his desire to set out on
the open sea to "gain experience of the world / and of the vices and
the worth of men."[88] As they approach the Pillars of Hercules,
Ulysses urges his crew:

'Brothers,' I said, 'o you, who having crossed

a hundred thousand dangers, reach the west,
to this brief waking-time that still is left
unto your senses, you must not deny
experience of that which lies beyond
the sun, and of the world that is unpeopled.
Consider well the seed that gave you birth:
you were not made to live your lives as brutes,
but to be followers of worth and knowledge.'[89]

Ulysses tells how he and his men traveled south across the
equator, observed the southern stars, and found that the North
Star had sunk below the horizon; they sight Mount Purgatory in
the Southern Hemisphere after five months of passage.
Canto XXVII
Dante is approached by Guido da Montefeltro, head of the
Ghibellines of Romagna, asking for news of his country. Dante
replies with a tragic summary of the current state of the cities of
Romagna. Guido then recounts his life: he advised Pope Boniface
VIII to offer a false amnesty to the Colonna family, who, in 1297,
had walled themselves inside the castle ofPalestrina in the Lateran.
When the Colonna accepted the terms and left the castle, the Pope
razed it to the ground and left them without a refuge. Guido
describes how St. Francis, founder of the Franciscan order, came to
take his soul to Heaven, only to have a devil assert prior claim.
Although Boniface had absolved Guido in advance for his evil
advice, the devil points out the invalidity: absolution
requires contrition, and a man cannot be contrite for a sin at the
same time that he is intending to commit it[90]
Canto XXVIII

Bolgia 9 Sowers of Discord: In the Ninth Bolgia, the Sowers
of Discord are hacked and mutilated for all eternity by a large
demon wielding a bloody sword; their bodies are divided as, in
life, their sin was to tear apart what God had intended to be
united;[91] these are the sinners who are "ready to rip up the
whole fabric of society to gratify a sectional egotism." [92] The
souls must drag their ruined bodies around the ditch, their
 wounds healing in the course of the circuit, only to have the
demon tear them apart anew. There are divided into three
categories: (i) religious schism and discord, (ii) civil strife and
political discord, and (iii) family disunion, or discord between
kinsmen. Chief among the first category isMuhammad, the
founder of Islam: his body is ripped from groin to chin, with his
entrails hanging out. Dante apparently saw Muhammad as
causing a schism within Christianity when he and his followers
splintered off.[92][93] Dante also condemns Muhammad's son-in-
law, Ali, for schism between Sunni and Shiite: his face is cleft
from top to bottom. Muhammad ironically tells Dante to warn
the schismatic and heretic Fra Dolcino. In the second category
are Pier da Medicina (his throat slit, nose slashed off as far as
the eyebrows, a wound where one of his ears had been), the
Roman tribune Gaius Scribonius Curio (who advised Caesar
to cross the Rubicon and thus begin the Civil War; his tongue is
cut off), and Mosca dei Lamberti (who incited the Amidei family
to kill Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonti, resulting in conflict
between Guelphs and Ghibellines; his arms are hacked off).
Finally, in the third category of sinner, Dante sees Bertrand de
Born (1140-1215). The knight carries around his severed
head by its own hair, swinging it like a lantern. Bertrand is said
to have caused a quarrel between Henry II of England and his
son Prince Henry the Young King; his punishment in Hell is
decapitation, since dividing father and son is like severing the
head from the body.[92]

Canto XXIX

Bolgia 10 Falsifiers: The final bolgia of the Eighth Circle, is

home to various sorts of falsifiers. A "disease" on society, they
are themselves afflicted with different types of afflictions:
[94]
horrible diseases, stench, thirst, filth, darkness, and
screaming. Some lie prostrate while others run hungering
through the pit, tearing others to pieces. Shortly before their
arrival in this pit, Virgil indicates that it is approximately noon of
Holy Saturday, and he and Dante discuss one of Dante's
kinsmen (Geri de Bello) among the Sowers of Discord in the
previous ditch. The first category of falsifiers Dante encounters
are the Alchemists (Falsifiers of Things). He speaks with two
spirits viciously scrubbing and clawing at their leprous scabs:
Griffolino d'Arezzo (an alchemist who extracted money from the
foolish Alberto da Siena on the promise of teaching him to fly;
Alberto's reputed father the Bishop of Siena had Griffolino
burned at the stake) and Capocchio (burned at the stake at
Siena in 1293 for practicing alchemy).
 Dante et Virgile by William-Adolphe Bouguereau: Capocchio, an
alchemist, is attacked by Gianni Schicchi, who impersonated the dead
Buoso Donati to claim his inheritance, Canto XXX.

Canto XXX
Suddenly, two spirits Gianni Schicchi de' Cavalcanti and Myrrha,
both punished as Imposters (Falsifiers of Persons) run rabid
through the pit. Schicchi sinks his tusks into Capocchio's neck and
drags him away like prey. Griffolino explains how Myrrha disguised
herself to commit incest with her fatherKing Cinyras, while Schicchi
impersonated the dead Buoso Donati to dictate a will giving himself
several profitable bequests. Dante then encounters Master Adam of
Brescia, one of the Counterfeiters (Falsifiers of Money): for
manufacturing Florentine florins of twenty-one (rather than twenty-
four) carat gold, he was burned at the stake in 1281. He is punished
by a loathsomedropsy-like disease, which gives him a bloated
stomach, prevents him from moving, and an eternal,
unbearable thirst. Master Adam points out two sinners of the fourth
class, the Perjurers (Falsifiers of Words). These are Potiphar's
wife (punished for her false accusation of Joseph, Gen. 39:7-19)
and Sinon, the Achaean spy who lied to the Trojans to convince
them to take the Trojan Horse into their city (Aeneid II, 57-194);
Sinon is here rather than in Bolgia 8 because his advice was false
as well as evil. Both suffer from a burning fever. Master Adam and
Sinon exchange abuse, which Dante watches until he is rebuked by
Virgil. As a result of his shame and repentance, Dante is forgiven by
his guide. Sayers remarks that the descent through Malebolge
"began with the sale of the sexual relationship, and went on to the
sale of Church and State; now, the very money is itself corrupted,
every affirmation has become perjury, and every identity a lie" [94] so
that every aspect of social interaction has been progressively
destroyed.
Central Well of Malebolge

Titans and giants, includingEphialtes on the left, in Dor's illustrations.

Canto XXXI
Dante and Virgil approach the Central Well, at the bottom of which
lies the Ninth and final Circle of Hell. The classical and
biblical Giants who perhaps symbolize pride and other spiritual
flaws lying behind acts of treachery[95] stand perpetual guard inside
the well-pit, their legs embedded in the banks of the Ninth Circle
while their upper halves rise above the rim and can be visible from
the Malebolge.[96] Dante initially mistakes them for great towers of a
city. Among the Giants, Virgil identifiesNimrod (who tried to build
the Tower of Babel; he shouts out the unintelligible Raphl mai
amcche zab almi); Ephialtes (who with his brother Otus tried to
storm Olympusduring the Gigantomachy; he has his arms chained
up) and Briareus (who Dante claimed to have challenged the Gods);
and Tityos and Typhon, who insulted Jupiter. Also here is the
Giant Antaeus, who did not join in the rebellion against the
Olympian Gods and therefore is not chained. At Virgil's persuasion,
Antaeus takes the Poets in his large palm and lowers them gently to
the final level of Hell.
Ninth Circle (Treachery)

Dante speaks to the traitors in the ice, Canto XXXII.

Canto XXXII
At the base of the well, Dante finds himself within a large frozen
lake: Cocytus, the Ninth Circle of Hell. Trapped in the ice, each
according to his guilt, are punished sinners guilty of treachery
against those with whom they had special relationships. The lake of
ice is divided into four concentric rings (or "rounds") of traitors
corresponding, in order of seriousness, to betrayal of family ties,
betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of lords.
This is in contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery; as Ciardi
writes, "The treacheries of these souls were denials of love (which
is God) and of all human warmth. Only the remorseless dead center
of the ice will serve to express their natures. As they denied God's
love, so are they furthest removed from the light and warmth of His
Sun. As they denied all human ties, so are they bound only by the
unyielding ice."[97]

Round 1 Cana: this round is named after Cain, who killed his
own brother in the first act of murder (Gen. 4:8). This round
houses the Traitors to their Kindred: they have their necks
and heads out of the ice and allowed to bow their heads,
allowing some protection from the freezing wind. Here Dante
sees the brothers Alessandro and Napoleone degli Alberti, who
killed each other over their inheritance and their politics some
time between 1282 and 1286. Camiscion de' Pazzi, a Ghibelline
who murdered his kinsman Ubertino, identifies several other
sinners: Mordred (traitorous nephew ofKing Arthur); Vanni de'
Cancellieri, nicknamed Focaccia (a White Guelph
of Pistoia who killed his cousin, Detto de' Cancellieri); and
Sassol Mascheroni of the noble Toschi family of Florence
(murdered a relative). Camicion is aware that, in July 1302, his
relative Carlino de' Pazzi would accept a bribe to surrender the
Castle of Piantravigne to the Blacks, betraying the Whites. As a
traitor to his party, Carlino belongs in Antenora, the next circle
down his greater sin will make Camiscion look virtuous by
comparison.[98]

Ugolino and His Sons by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (Metropolitan

Museum of Art) depicts Ugolino della Gherardesca's story from Canto
 XXXIII. Imprisoned for treachery, Ugolino starves to death with his
children, who, before dying, beg him to eat their bodies.

Round 2 Antenora: the second round is named

after Antenor, a Trojansoldier who betrayed his city to the
Greeks. Here lie the Traitors to their Country: those who
committed treason against political entities (parties, cities, or
countries) have their heads above the ice, but they cannot bend
their necks. Dante accidentally kicks the head of Bocca degli
Abati, a traitorous Guelph of Florence, and then proceeds to
treat him more savagely than any other soul he has thus far
met. Also punished in this level are Buoso da Duera (Ghibelline
leader bribed by the French to betray Manfred, King of Naples),
Tesauro dei Beccheria (a Ghibelline of Pavia; beheaded by the
Florentine Guelphs for treason in 1258), Gianni de' Soldanieri
(noble Florentine Ghibelline who joined with the Guelphs after
Manfred's death in 1266), Ganelon (betrayed the rear guard
of Charlemagne to the Muslims at Roncesvalles), and
Tebaldello de' Zambrasi of Faenza (a Ghibelline who turned his
city over to the Bolognese Guelphs on Nov. 13, 1280). The
Poets then see two heads frozen in one hole, one gnawing the
nape of the other's neck.

Canto XXXIII
The gnawing sinner tells his story: he is Count Ugolino, and the
head he gnaws belongs to Archbishop Ruggieri. In "the most
pathetic and dramatic passage of theInferno",[99] Ugolino describes
how he conspired with Ruggieri in 1288 to oust his nephew and
take control over the Guelphs of Pisa. However, as soon as Nino
was gone, the Archbishop, sensing the Guelphs' weakened position,
turned on Ugolino and imprisoned him with his sons and grandsons
in the Torre dei Gualandi. In March 1289, the Archbishop
condemned the prisoners to death by starvation in the tower.

Round 3 Ptolomaea: the third region of Cocytus is named

after Ptolemy, who invited his father-in-law Simon
Maccabaeus and his sons to a banquet and then killed them
(1 Maccabees 16).[100] Traitors to their Guests lie supine in the
ice while their tears freeze in their eye sockets, sealing them
with small visors of crystal even the comfort of weeping is
denied them. Dante encounters Fra Alberigo, one of the Jovial
Friars and a native of Faenza, who asks Dante to remove the
visor of ice from his eyes. In 1285, Alberigo invited his
opponents, Manfred (his brother) and Alberghetto (Manfred's
son), to a banquet at which his men murdered the dinner
guests. He explains that often a living person's soul falls to
Ptolomea before he dies ("before dark Atropos has cut their
thread."[101]) Then, on earth, a demon inhabits the body until the
body's natural death. Fra Alberigo's sin is identical in kind to
that of Branca d'Oria, a Genoese Ghibelline who, in 1275,
invited his father-in-law, Michel Zanche (seen in the Eighth
Circle, Bolgia 5) and had him cut to pieces. Branca (that is, his
 earthly body) did not die until 1325, but his soul, together with
that of his nephew who assisted in his treachery, fell to
Ptolomaea before Michel Zanche's soul arrived at the bolgia of
the Barrators. Dante leaves without keeping his promise to
clear Fra Alberigo's eyes of ice ("And yet I did not open them for
him; / and it was courtesy to show him rudeness."[102]

Canto XXXIV

Round 4 Judecca: the fourth division of Cocytus, named

for Judas Iscariot, contains the Traitors to their Lords and
benefactors. Upon entry into this round, Virgil says "Vexilla
regis prodeunt inferni" ("The banners of the King of Hell draw
closer").[103] Judecca is completely silent: all of the sinners are
fully encapsulated in ice, distorted and twisted in every
conceivable position. The sinners present an image of utter
immobility: it is impossible to talk with any of them, and so
Dante and Virgil quickly move on to the centre of Hell.

Centre of Hell

Satan in the Inferno is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth
Circle of Hell, Canto XXXIV (Gustave Dor)

See also: Dante's Satan

In the very centre of Hell, condemned for committing the ultimate
sin (personal treachery against God), is the Devil, referred to by
Virgil as Dis (the Roman god of the underworld; the name "Dis" was
often used for Pluto in antiquity, such as in Virgil's Aeneid). The
arch-traitor, Lucifer was once held by God to be fairest of the angels
before pride caused his rebellion against God and resulted in his
expulsion from Heaven. Lucifer is a giant, terrifying beast trapped
waist-deep in the ice, fixed and suffering. He has three faces, each
a different color: one red (the middle), one a pale yellow (the right),
and one black (the left):
... he had three faces: one in front bloodred;
and then another two that, just above
the midpoint of each shoulder, joined the first;
and at the crown, all three were reattached;
the right looked somewhat yellow, somewhat white;
 the left in its appearance was like those
who come from where the Nile, descending, flows. [104]

Dorothy L. Sayers notes that Satan's three faces are thought by

some to suggest his control over the three human races: red for the
Europeans (from Japheth), yellow for the Asiatic (from Shem), and
black for the African (the race of Ham).[105] All interpretations
recognize that the three faces represent a fundamental perversion
of the Trinity: Satan is impotent, ignorant, and full of hate, in
contrast to the all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving nature of
God.[105] Lucifer retains his six wings (he originally belonged to the
angelic order of Seraphim, described in Isaiah 6:2), but these are
now dark, bat-like, and futile: the icy wind that emanates from the
beating of Lucifer's wings only further ensures his own
imprisonment in the frozen lake. He weeps from his six eyes, and
his tears mix with bloody froth and pus as they pour down his three
chins. Each face has a mouth that chews eternally on a prominent
traitor. Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus dangle
with their feet in the left and right mouths, respectively, for their
involvement in the assassination of Julius Caesar (March 15, 44
BC) an act which, to Dante, represented the destruction of a
unified Italy and the killing of the man who was divinely appointed to
govern the world.[105] In the central, most vicious mouth is Judas
Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Christ. Judas is receiving the
most horrifying torture of the three traitors: his head is gnawed
inside Lucifer's mouth while his back is forever flayed and shredded
by Lucifer's claws. According to Dorothy L. Sayers, "just as Judas
figures treason against God, so Brutus and Cassius figure treason
against Man-in-Society; or we may say that we have here the
images of treason against the Divine and the Secular government of
the world."[105]
At about 6:00 P.M. on Saturday evening, Virgil and Dante begin
their escape from Hell by clambering down Satan's ragged fur, feet-
first. When they reach Satan's navel, the poets pass through
the center of the universe and of gravity from the Northern
Hemisphere of land to the Southern Hemisphere of water. When
Virgil changes direction and begins to climb "upward" towards the
surface of the Earth at the antipodes, Dante, in his confusion,
initially believes they are returning to Hell. Virgil indicates that the
time is halfway between the canonical hours of Prime (6 a.m.)
and Terce (9 a.m.) that is, 7:30 A.M of the same Holy Saturday
which was just about to end. Dante is confused as to how, after
about an hour and a half of climbing, it is now apparently morning.
Virgil explains that as a result of passing through the Earth's center
into the Southern Hemisphere, which is twelve hours ahead
of Jerusalem, the central city of the Northern Hemisphere (where,
therefore, it is currently 7:30 P.M.).
Virgil goes on to explain how the Southern Hemisphere was once
covered with dry land, but the land recoiled in horror to the north
when Lucifer fell from Heaven and was replaced by the ocean.
Meanwhile, the inner rock Lucifer displaced as he plunged into the
center of the earth rushed upwards to the surface of the Southern
 Hemisphere to avoid contact with him, forming the Mountain of
Purgatory. This mountain the only land mass in the waters of the
Southern Hemisphere rises above the surface at a point directly
opposite Jerusalem. The poets then ascend a narrow chasm of rock
through the "space contained between the floor formed by
the convex side of Cocytus and the underside of the earth
above,"[106] moving in opposition to Lethe, the river of oblivion, which
flows down from the summit of Mount Purgatory. The poets finally
emerge a little before dawn on the morning of Easter Sunday (April
10, 1300 A.D.) beneath a sky studded with stars.

Illustrations
Series of woodcuts, illustrating Dantes Hell by Antonio Manetti(1423 1497).
Dialogo di Antonio Manetti (1423 1497) cittadino fiorentino circa al sito, forma, et misure dello
inferno di Dante Alighieri poeta excellentissimo. [Florence: F. Giunta, 1510?].
Everything Reduced
to One Plan, 1506

The Chamber of
Hell, 1506

Overview of Hell,
1506

Circles Six and

Seven, 1506
See also
Allegory in the Middle Ages
Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy in popular culture

Dante's Satan

List of cultural references in The Divine Comedy

Notes
1.
Jump up^ There are many English translations of this famous
line. Some examples include
All hope abandon, ye who enter here - Henry Francis
Cary (18051814)

All hope abandon, ye who enter in! - Henry Wadsworth

Longfellow (1882)

Leave every hope, ye who enter! - Charles Eliot

Norton (1891)

Leave all hope, ye that enter - Carlyle Okey-

Wicksteed (1932)

Lay down all hope, you that go in by me. - Dorothy L.

Sayers (1949)

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here - John Ciardi (1954)

Abandon every hope, you who enter. - Charles S.

Singleton (1970)

No room for hope, when you enter this place - C. H.

Sisson (1980)

Abandon every hope, who enter here. - Allen

Mandelbaum (1982)

Abandon all hope, you who enter here. - Robert

Pinsky (1993); Robert Hollander (2000)

Abandon every hope, all you who enter - Mark Musa (1995)

Abandon every hope, you who enter. - Robert M.

Durling (1996)

Verbatim, the line translates as "Leave (lasciate) every (ogne)

hope (speranza), ye (voi) that (ch') enter (intrate)."

2.
Jump up^ Mandelbaum, note to his translation, p. 357 of the
Bantam Dell edition, 2004, says that Dante may simply be
preserving an ancient conflation of the two deities; Peter
Bondanella in his note to the translation of Henry Wadsworth
 Longfellow, The Inferno: Dante Alighieri (Barnes & Noble
Classics, 2003), pp. 202203, thinks Plutus is meant, since Pluto
is usually identified with Dis, and Dis is a distinct figure.
3.
Jump up^ The punishment of immersion was not typically
ascribed in Dante's age to the violent, but the Visio attaches it to
those whofacere praelia et homicidia et rapinas pro cupiditate
terrena ("make battle and murder and rapine because of worldly
cupidity"). Theodore Silverstein (1936), "Inferno, XII, 100126,
and the Visio Karoli Crassi," Modern Language Notes, 51:7, 449
452, and Theodore Silverstein (1939), "The Throne of the
Emperor Henry in Dante's Paradise and the Mediaeval
Conception of Christian Kingship," Harvard Theological
Review, 32:2, 115129, suggests that Dante's interest in
contemporary politics would have attracted him to a piece like
the Visio. Its popularity assures that Dante would have had
access to it. Jacques Le Goff,Goldhammer, Arthur, tr. (1986), The
Birth of Purgatory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-
226-47083-0), states definitively that ("we know [that]") Dante
read it.
4.
Jump up^ Allen Mandelbaum on Canto XXI, lines 112-114: "the
bridges of Hell crumbled 1266 years ago at a time five hours
later than the present hour yesterday. Dante held that Christ died
after having completed 34 years of life on this earth years
counted from the day of the Incarnation. Luke affirms that the hour
of His death was the sixth that is, noon. If this is the case, then
Malacoda is referring to a time which is 7 A.M., five hours before
noon on Holy Saturday." [82]

References
1. Jump up^ John Ciardi, The Divine Comedy, Introduction by
Archibald T. MacAllister, p. 14
2. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on page 19.

3. Jump up^ Hollander, Robert (2000). Note on Inferno I.11. In

Robert and Jean Hollander, trans., The Inferno by Dante. New
York: Random House. p. 14. ISBN 0-385-49698-2

4. Jump up^ Allen Mandelbaum, Inferno, notes on Canto I, pg. 345

5. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 1

6. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 2

7. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 3

8. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 32

9. Jump up^ Allaire, Gloria (7 August 1997). "New evidence

towards identifying Dante's enigmatic lonza". Electronic Bulletin of
the Dante Society of America defines lonza as the result of an
unnatural pairing between a leopard and a lioness in Andrea da
Barberino Guerrino meschino.

10. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 45

11. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 49

12. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto I, pg. 21

13. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto I.

14. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 61

15. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 60

16. Jump up^ Inf. Canto I, line 70

17. Jump up^ Inf. Canto III, line 9

18. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto III, pg. 36

19. Jump up^ Dorothly L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto III

20. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto III, lines 95-96, Longfellow translation

21. Jump up^ Brand, Peter; Pertile, Lino (1999). The Cambridge
History of Italian Literature (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
pp. 6364. ISBN 0-521-66622-8. Retrieved2016-03-07.

22. ^ Jump up to:a b John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XI, pg. 94

23. ^ Jump up to:a b c Dorothy L. Sayers, "Hell", notes on Canto XI, pg.
139

24. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto IV

25. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto IV, line 36, Mandelbaum translation.

26. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto IV, line 103, Ciardi translation.

27. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto IV, line 123, Mandelbaum translation.

28. Jump up^ Purgatorio, Canto XXII, lines 97-114

29. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto IV, line 151, Mandelbaum translation.

30. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto V, line 38, Longfellow translation.

31. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto V, pg.

101-102

32. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto V, pg. 51

33. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto V, line 34, Mandelbaum translation.

34. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto V, lines 100-108, Ciardi translation.

35. Jump up^ Inf. Canto V, line 137

36. Jump up^ Inferno, line 137, Ciardi translation

37. Jump up^ John Keats, On a Dream.

38. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto V, lines 141-142, Mandelbaum

translation.

39. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, Canto VI, pg. 54

40. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto VI.

41. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, Introduction, p. xi.

42. ^ Jump up to:a b Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno,

University Of Chicago Press, 1981, pp. 5152.

43. Jump up^ "Giovanni Boccaccio, ''The Decameron'', Ninth Day,

Novel VIII". Stg.brown.edu. Archived from the original on October
18, 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-22.

44. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto VII, line 47, Mandelbaum translation.

45. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto VII, lines 2530, Ciardi translation.

46. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto VII, pg.
114

47. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto VII, lines 7980, Mandelbaum

translation.

48. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto VII, lines 54, Mandelbaum translation.

49. Jump up^ Dante, Alighieri; Durling, Robert M.; Martinez, Ronald
L. (March 6, 1997). The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. New
York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195087445.

50. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto VIII, lines 3738, Mandelbaum

translation.

51. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto VIII.

52. Jump up^ Allen Mandelbaum, Inferno, notes on Canto VIII, pg.
358

53. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto X, line 15, Mandelbaum translation.

54. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto X, lines 103108, Mandelbaum

translation.

55. Jump up^ Richard P. McBrien (1997). Lives of the Popes: The
Pontiffs from St. Peter to John Paul II. HarperCollins. pp. 82
83. ISBN 978-0-06-065304-0. Retrieved 8 March2013.

56. Jump up^ Alighieri, Dante (1995). Dante's Inferno. Translated by

Mark Musa. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-20930-6.
Retrieved 8 March 2013.

57. Jump up^ Hudson-Williams, T. (1951). "Dante and the

Classics".Greece & Rome. 20 (58): 38
42.doi:10.1017/s0017383500011128. Dante is not free from error
in his allocation of sinners; he consigned Pope Anastasius II to
the burning cauldrons of the Heretics because he mistook him for
the emperor of the same name

58. Jump up^ Seth Zimmerman (2003). The Inferno of Dante

Alighieri. iUniverse. ISBN 978-1-4697-2448-5. Retrieved8
March 2013.

59. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XI.

60. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XI, pg. 95

61. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XII, lines 101-103, Longfellow

translation.

62. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, Canto XII, pg. 96

63. ^ Jump up to:a b c Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XIII.

64. Jump up^ Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno,

University Of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 224.

65. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, Canto XIV, pg. 112

66. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, Canto XV, pg. 119

67. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XV.

68. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XV, lines 8587, Mandelbaum

translation.

69. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, Canto XVII, line 56

70. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XVII.

71. Jump up^ Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno,

University Of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 117

72. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XVII, pg. 138

73. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XVIII.

74. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XVIII, line 94, Mandelbaum translation.

75. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XIX, lines 26, Mandelbaum translation

76. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XIX.

77. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XX.

78. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XX, pg. 157

79. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XX, lines 28-30, Mandelbaum

translation.

80. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXI.

81. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XXI, pg. 171

82. Jump up^ Allen Mandelbaum, Inferno, notes on Canto XXI

83. Jump up^ Patterson, Victoria. "Great Farts in Literature". The

Nervous Breakdown. Retrieved 7 March 2012.

84. ^ Jump up to:a b John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XXIII, p. 180

85. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXIII

86. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXIV.

87. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXVI.

 88. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XXVI, lines 98-99.

89. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XXVI, lines 112-120, Mandelbaum

translation.

90. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXVII.

91. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XXVIII, pg. 217

92. ^ Jump up to:a b c Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXVIII.

93. Jump up^ Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno,

University Of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 178.

94. ^ Jump up to:a b Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXIX.

95. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXXI.

96. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXXII.

97. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XXXII, pg. 248

98. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on XXXII

99. Jump up^ John Ciardi, Inferno, notes on Canto XXXIII, pg. 256

100. Jump up^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXXIII.

101. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XXXIII, line 125, Ciardi

translation

102. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XXXIII, lines 149-150,

Mandelbaum translation.

103. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XXXIV, line 1, Mandelbaum

translation

104. Jump up^ Inferno, Canto XXXIV, lines 3945, Mandelbaum

translation.

105. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto

XXXIV.

106. Jump up^ Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander, The

Inferno, notes on Canto XXXIV, pg. 641.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Dante's
Inferno.

Wikisource has original

text related to this article:

The Divine
Comedy/Inferno
 Texts

Dante's Divine Comedy presented by the Electronic Literature

Foundation. Multiple editions, with Italian and English facing
page and interpolated versions.
Dante Dartmouth Project: Full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin,
and English commentaries on the Commedia, ranging in date
from 1322 (Iacopo Alighieri) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander)

World of Dante Multimedia website that offers Italian text

of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery,
interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, and searchable
database for students and teachers by Deborah Parker and
IATH (Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities) of
the University of Virginia

Dante's Divine Comedy: Full text paraphrased in modern

English verse by Scottish author and artist Alasdair Gray

Audiobooks: Public domain recordings from LibriVox (in

Italian, Longfellow translation); some additional recordings

Secondary materials

A 72-piece art collection featured in "Dante's Hell Animated"

and "Inferno by Dante" films.
On-line Concordance to the Divine Comedy

Wikisummaries summary and analysis of "Inferno"

Danteworlds, multimedia presentation of the Divine Comedy for

students by Guy Raffa of the University of Texas

Dante's Places: a map (still a prototype) of the places named by

Dante in the Commedia, created with GoogleMaps. Explanatory
PDF is available for download

Dante's Inferno on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)

See more Dante's Inferno images by selecting the ""Heaven &

Hell" subject at the Persuasive Cartography, The PJ Mode
Collection, Cornell University Library

[show]
v

Dante
 [show]
v

Dante's Divine Comedy

[show]
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Seven deadly sins

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14th-century Christian texts
Epic poems in Italian
Italian poems
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Works by Dante Alighieri
Hell in popular culture
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